I recently purchased these boots second-hand off eBay, after the straps on my old Hein Gericke Bullson boots started to wear and looked ready to snap at any moment. I opted for Alpinestars as I’ve always found their gear to be good quality. It’s easy to see why they’re still going strong after recently celebrating their 50th anniversary. Granted their brand carries a premium price, but popularity does mean a large number of their products can be found second hand and so with a little patience, some real bargains can be found. These S-MX 4 boots will normally set you back in the region of £150, but I picked up a pair in good nick for just £40. Sorted.
After getting my wife her own motorbike, getting an extra security chain was a top priority. Being so pleased with the Pragmasis Protector chain I’ve been using, they were the obvious choice. I had considered an Almax chain, which is generally regarded as being on par with the Pragmasis chains. Both brands cost the same and are supplied with the same Squire padlock; however, Pragmasis offer free next-day postage – can’t argue with that.
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Insurance Renewal
Eeek, that time of year when insurance is up for renewal. However, rather than hoping to see a nice drop in my premium due to gaining a years riding experience and a year no claims, I’ve got a dirty great hike. All thanks to the numskull who ran me off the road back in April, the claim of which is still unresolved and waiting to see the other party will respond to my insurers legal case. Grrrr.
Sod’s law will probably see the claim getting resolved shortly after I stump up the cash and renew.
FWIW We have some great tips which may bring down an insurance premium
To celebrate one full year of riding since passing my DAS test, I’m kicking off a little competition to win some handy goodies useful to all bikers out there:-
First Prize: NikWax Leather Care Kit. Featuring leather cleaner, leather restorer, aqueous wax for footwear, glove waterproofer and visor water repellant. Ideal combination to see you through wet weather. I reviewed this leather care kit earlier in the year.
Second Prize: Can of ACF50 anti-corrosion spray. Halts existing rust and prevents new. Perfect for protecting you bike through the winter.
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One Year of Riding
Exactly one year ago I passed my direct access test, and what a year it has been. Thrown in at the deep end, straight onto my Fazer 600 and commuting into central London every day, then onto some long ride outs like my jaunt up to Shrewsbury. I’ve put in 7000 miles odd, numerous sorties to the Ace Cafe and unfortunately a couple of offs.
I’m definitely a better rider than one year ago, far more confident and a dab hand at filtering. It’s inevitable all new riders will drop their first bike a few times, maybe an un-faired bike would have made this less painful on the wallet, but hey-ho, I’m loving my Fazer.
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Fazer Spotted on Holiday
Spotted this nice looking Fazer 600 on holiday whilst in Bognor Regis. Very similar to mine, but with added fairing lowers and some side panels colour coded in blue.
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First Attempt at Spray Painting
At the weekend I started my first attempt at spray painting. The ZZR400 was missing a small piece of the tail fairing. We managed to source this off eBay cheap, however the part was the wrong colour. So how hard can it be to spray paint it the right colour?
I started by giving the item a really good sand down with some 800 grit wet/dry paper, washed and dried it. I then sprayed it with primer (pictured). Slowly building it up coat after coat, with about 10-15 minutes between them. After leaving 24 hours, I then sanded it gently with some 1200 grit wet/dry paper, washed dried it, then set it up for spraying the top coat. Working in a similar fashion, building up the coats. Things were progressing well until the piece fell off my cardboard stand and got a pile of newspaper stuck to it! Doh!
Start again. Will let it totally dry and sand it down and have another go…
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20,000 On The Clock
Mini milestone, just broken 20,000 on the click of my Fazer. It had a mere 13k on it when I bought it last September. But being ridden everyday to commute to work in central London has really piled on the miles.
A day of annual leave booked, kids with childminder, mid-week, quiet roads, lovely sunny weather – ah! the perfect ride out and chance to take in the best motorcycle roads Essex has to offer. The intention for the day was to go for a reasonably long run on the bikes, get my wife more accustomed to her new ZZR400, build up her confidence after returning to biking from several years off bikes. The day should have been a chilled Essex out ride, culminating in a picnic in Finchingfield.
The route was fairly straightforward. From Dagenham: Hainhault → Stapleford Abbots → Chipping Ongar → Leaden Roding → Great Dunmow → Finchingfield. The route is very scenic, especially the stretch North of Great Dunmow. Undulating fields, twisty bends and corn in the fields being harvested. Total length is just shy of 40 miles and easily doable in under 1.5 hours. If you fancy a longer ride, you could continue North through Haverhill and onto Bury St Edmunds, which is another 28 miles.
These boots are made for riding. I purchased these boots almost a year ago during the ‘closing down’ sale at Hein Gericke when the UK arm of the company went into administration. As such they were heavily reduced at cost me around £60. Consider this a long-term review of how they have fared as I’ve worn them 5 days a week for 12 months during my daily commute.
I was initially drawn to these boots as I was looking for something I could wear during the day at work without looking too obvious as motorcycle boots. The discreet black leather design fits this bill well. The Sheltex layer promised to provide waterproof protection and reinforced sole for impact protection. I took a size 11, but do have narrow feet. The fit of the boots was pretty good, but a little wide, so did necessitate yanking the strap pretty tight. The next size down was too cramped on my toes.